I don’t believe that writing and motherhood should be incompatible, in fact usually I am adamant that writing makes me a better mother, because it is how I examine motherhood (my life, at this point), and because in the examining I see both the ineffable divinity in every day and the humor (or at least reason) in even the most aggravating moments.
But the past several weeks I can hardly pull back far enough from the here and now, from the one-pound Scout jabbing me unexpectedly, from the Spot girl who says she isn’t my baby anymore “your baby’s in your tummy” in her cute munchkin voice. Now that I know kids grow out of that voice, that they learn, eventually, to say their g’s and k’s, I want to pause her so she stays with me and urgently explains every detail of her day at college the way she does her discovery that pulling on the skin around her unbent knee doesn’t hurt, today.
On Sunday as we walked to church I asked her if she’d gone to the bathroom that morning. She said, exasperated, “I peed on Saturday, Mom.” I said that’s great, but that she probably really should pee everyday, and did she pee that morning? And she said, “I didn’t pee in the tub, Mom. My bum made bubbles in the tub, but I didn’t pee.”
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Those girls are so cute! At least they’re mimicking your belly. Mine were caught the other night with balloons elsewhere…
Tell little spot no worries… we all do that in the tub.
Your kids are just so cute. And knowing how wonderful they are to be around in real life makes them even more adorable.
Love the pics. And my dog is cuter than your cat… sorry.
Them are some sexy belly shots.
Your daughter has a bladder of steel.
I’m glad you’re enjoying your present, I’ve been trying to just be there with my little ones lately.
LOL, they sure are adorable, and I love the baby bellies. I love her little munchkin voice too, every time she talks I just want to squeeze her. That’s not bad, is it?
I just wanted to thank you for all your musings about pregnancy and birth lately. As we plan our second child, it’s given me the courage to talk to Robb and let him know how I feel about going back into the hospital; we’ve agreed that the course of action that is best for us at this time is talking to a midwife, and seeing if we’d be good clients for a HBAC.
Thank you for reminding me of the importance of all of this.
Jane Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I’m glad I could inspire you to look into your options (it’s kind of scary to have you thank me — I’m not an expert or anything, please keep that in mind
).
I have several more posts to write on this topic, but in the meantime, I have a cousin who had two c-sections and then 2 HBACs. She’s planning her third now, so I know it’s possible. Good luck!
Kristine Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Oh, no, I definitely understand; I think it’s more about you talking about the things I needed to hear, inspiring me to go back to asking questions instead of just accepting what “common knowledge” says…because the common knowledge seems to be that women can’t birth their babies well, and I disagree with that!
I have to say, when you first tweeted this, I thought “Mormon Belly Shots, well that’s got to be worth a look”. You were right, the pics weren’t at all what I expected!
And I hope Spot doesn’t learn the “trick” M did last night. Out of bed, “I need to go to the toilet”, please, go ahead and GO already! We heard plopping. Hm, might be worth a toilet-training gold star … on closer inspection, no star earned.
We asked her how she made that sound???
With her hand .. splashing it into the loo water! Can you imagine???